SFC John Taffe graduates from BCT
ChipNASA sends us a link to Fox News which reports that Sergeant First Class John Taffe, a 55-year-old from Alameda, CA graduated from Basic Combat Training at Fort Leonard Wood, MO yesterday;
“When I left for Missouri, my 15-year-old son said, ‘Dad, I hope the Army knocks you off your high horse.’ Now I can tell him, ‘Nope. It just made me stronger,'” he told the paper.
Taffe said he hopes the additional money he makes working in the reserve will help pay for his kids’ college. He had worked in the Navy for 14 years and working six years in the Reserve will increase his benefits. He also said the Sept. 11 attacks inspired him to join the reserves.
Dude!
Category: Real Soldiers
Good going and good luck Sergeant First Class John Taffe. Us old guys still have it in us. Well…some of you do.
I am assuming he was a Navy Reservist and made Chief and switched over? Terribly written article.
We will have another confused soul on ARMY-NAVY Game day.
For the media types who peruse TAH:
You do not “work” for the military if you took the oath and wear the uniform; you SERVE in the branch of service you enlisted/got commisioned in. The only people who “work” for the military are DOD civilian employees. The verbiage in the article just shows the total ignorance that media types have about military matters…
Yup. I served in the Texas Army National Guard for 24 years. I worked as a school teacher for 15 years.
Big difference.
Better article with more details….
I feel OLD and FAT.
http://www.army.mil/article/122708/
/no, my wife would KILL ME!
“I feel OLD and FAT.”
Right there with you, Chip. I thought I was doing good when I did my yoga and went for my daily walk! Guess I’m going to have to rethink that…
Oh, come on! You’d enjoy every minute of it, and she’d be grooving on the sight of you in a uniform.
He was 54 when he enlisted and a waiver is needed for those 55+, according to the article. Hell, we called guys pappy and gramps in BT when they were in their mid twenties. I couldn’t imagine going through BT at 54 no matter how physically fit one is.
Physically there’s no way. But in the 30+ years since B-2-3 at Lost in the Woods, my “okay, I’ll play your silly-ass games” acceptance is MUCH stronger.
Hey I was in D-3-3 IN 1985!
I was the second oldest trainee in my Infantry OSUT course at age 26. The oldest was 27.
MAJMike …. that could’ve been me. I was 27 when I graduated from D-2-1 at Harmony Church area, Ft. Benning.
http://www.geocities.ws/martinjmpr/ordrm01.jpg
Had my 28th birthday just before graduating Ranger School.
Hooah!
Me, BXXXXLLE
http://i1024.photobucket.com/albums/y306/rgr1480/Handlebar-Sgt1979_zpsdb4c71c9.jpg
Holy crap, I was in D-2-1 also! When were you there? I was there from August to November 1980.
MAJMike,
I was there one summer before you in 1979 … hung around a few months until OCS in March 80.
Me again:
http://i1024.photobucket.com/albums/y306/rgr1480/Drill_Corporal-1979_zps8a72bfe0.jpg
CO: CPT Hendrix was
1SG: MSG Pena-Ojeda
Sn. Drill: SFC Smith
I had to take the photo quickly and return SFC Smith’s hat before he noticed it was gone!!
I was a “Drill Corporal” as I had reupped from the USAF and entered as SP4; then, made acting sergeant while waiting for my One Crock of Shyte billet to open.
Hooah!
OOPS! Should have addressed to Martinjmpr. HEY!!!! You’re the guy I stole the old Harmony Church photo from.
What a coinkidink!
Hooah!
Ha! Small world. BTW I recognize the name Pena-Ojeda, he was stil 1sg in 1980 when I went through but for some reason I thought the CO’s name was Hudlow. Then again it was 34 years ago so I may be mis-remembering it. SFC Smith wore a 1st Cav combat patch didn’t he? I think he was the same one who was Senior DI when I was there also. Only other DI I remember was my own platoon (2nd Plt) DI, SSG Pinkerton who was the only DI in the company who WASN’T in VN.
And yes, that was one of the pictures I took at Harmony Church in 1991 when I was at Benning for jump school.
Yeah, I think SFC Smith had a horseblanket. I’ll have to go through my yearbook.
Re Pena-Ojeda … my best friend, whom I’ve known since 1996, and I found out we both had Pena-Ojeda as a drill sergeant … 10 years apart. P-J was a drill at Ft. Jackson when my pal went through basic in 1970; and he was the D-2-1 1SG when I went through OSUT in 1979 at Benning.
rgr1480
Martinjmpr,
Per my OSUT graduation book:
Bde Cdr: Col Harold Van Meter (I was his driver later while waiting for OCS)
Bde CSM: Harvey Parrish
D-2-1:
Graduation 30 Aug 1979
CPT Thomas L. Hendrix
2LT Everett Joyner
1SG Carlos Pena-Ojeda
(CIB and Crew Wings)
My drill sergeants:
Sr Drill SFC Emmit Johnson
SSG Wayne B. Damon
Other drills:
SFC Hilario Carreon
SSG Albert Crawford
SFC James Smith (wearing CIB; can’t see if he has the Horseblanket)
SFC Rolando Moreno
SFC Milton Greenway (CIB)
SSG James Vilvens (CIB)
SSG Freddie Fornea (CIB)
SSG David Marsh
SGT Melvin Guinyard
SSG Manuel Sanchez-Caso
CPL Garry Venning
Garry Venning was quite interesting. He was at West Point, but in his 3rd or 4th year he didn’t inform on one of the cheaters (big scandal then), so he was released and allowed to join the army as an enlisted soldier. He did his Airborne and Ranger schools while a cadet. He and I went to OCS at the same time. In OCS you couldn’t wear any decorations or badges until the senior level, so he had a Ranger Tab tattooed on his left shoulder. He was a very strong officer and very squared away — retired as a CPT last time I saw. He also told me that after Ranger School he got in trouble at the Point for biting off a chicken head during a football game (he was on the cheer squad before girls could enter the Point).
–Hoo-AAAAh
I did OSUT at Benning during Jun-Sep 1979; I was in D-3-1 over at Sand Hill. Brand new barracks (“starships”) at Sand Hill versus the old WWII barracks at Harmony Church. D-3-1 mortar training platoon DIs were Drill Sergeant Bland and Drill Sergeant Wigg. Company Senior DI was MSG Miller; Company First Sergeant was 1SG Pasion. Hard to believe that was 35 years ago…
While waiting for school, after graduating, I was sent to a gym at Sand Hill (I think).
The old, FAT, SFC-NCOIC was blathering that he received the Medal of Honor in RVN for blowing up TEN bunkers, etc. and a whole other lot of John Wayne stuff. Really laying it on thick! “Most people will tell you it was a blur, they don’t remember. BUT *I* REMEMBER everything as it happened.”
What a crock of shyte!
Well … when I got back to D-2-1 I told one of the drills about my encounter. Drill Sergeant asked me the sergeant’s name ….
“It was SFC Bondsteel” saith I.
Welllllllllll ….. SSG Bondsteel *DID* earn the Medal of Honor.
He was the second of three recipients I have met. First was Col Lewis Millett in Bangkok, 1969; the last was Maj. Howard in 1983.
rgr1480
I was serving in Germany in support of Operation JOINT GUARDIAN during 1999-2000 when Camp Bondsteel was opened up in Kosovo by 1st ID; I assume the camp was named after the MOH recipient SSG Bondsteel mentioned in your above post, but I could be wrong…
BTW, I met two MOH recipients during the course of my military career, SFC Gary Littrell (1970 MOH awardee) and SP4 Robert Patterson (1968 MOH awardee)…
When I was a Private First Class at Spangdahlem Air Force Base in Germany, I attended Mormon church services with a Colonel Bernard Francis Fisher, United States Air Force, who as a Major, was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in the old Republic of Viet Nam.
Since we were both Mormons, and both of us were Viet Nam veterans, we continued our association over the ensuing years, as we both participated in the same veterans and church activities, and he even allowed me to camp on his farm when I was attending Emergency Medical Technician advanced seminars in Boise, Idaho.
He has a ship named after him.
His wife died some years ago, and I believe he is still alive, but probably completely incapacitated by senility.
He was a guy who was always SO very anxious to help his fellow man!
Being of Welsh descent, the Welsh people adored him and presented him with a pony, which was always in his front yard for children to ride on.
We had a guy at Ft Ord in 1966, he was prior service, USAF. He was about 32, (old man) The guy was out of shape and had bad knees. They made him Platoon Guide since he had prior service. I wish I could remember his last name, Jim had bad knees and was in constant pain with the PT and running. He gutted it out and graduated Basic. I went off to Advanced Infantry Training, never saw him again. Don’t recall what he enlisted for but I bet he did well at whatever it was. He was a true inspiration to this homesick 17 year old. I saw him hurting and gutting it out, made it easier for me with cracked metatarsal bone in my foot. I hope he is sipping a Mai Tai somewhere enjoying his retirement!
Good for him, but I’m surprised they let him come in as an E-7. There was a piece on another guy that was posted here a few months ago who had been an O-4 and a pilot who came in as an E-5 (I think).
It might depend on how the O-4 presented himself and as to what kind of leadership and management qualities he presented. Thats just a dumb civvie guess. Also he may have come off a bit “holier than thou” to the recruiter or interviewing staff that may have made them knock him down a little. Again just a guess.
This still impresses the hell out of me. As they say in the navy: BRAVO ZULU Sgt Taffe!
T-Bird Henry: as I recall, the ex-O4 was former USAFR or ANG; he had a rather large amount of time (about 15 or 16 “good” years for reserve retirement, if I recall correctly, but I could be off). For some reason, he’d gotten out and couldn’t get back into the USAFR. The USAR or ARNG would take him as an E5.
When he has 20 “good” years, he’ll be eligible to retire – I think in 3-5 years. That mean’s he’ll retire at the highest rank successfully held – O4. And that’s the retirement pension he’ll draw at age 60.
Makes sense to me to take the lesser position temporarily under those conditions.
Hondo: I’ve known more than a few former officers who did the same thing. It’s weird to see a buck sergant with pilot wings – at first I thought they were aircrew but then he confirmed that he’d been a Huey pilot and made it to the rank of Major.
In the early 80’s there were a lot of guys who had gone through OCS in VN and then got RIFd out of the service because they didn’t have college degrees. A lot of these guys came back in as NCOs and many of them were outstanding – one was a drill sergant at Harmony Church in 1980 when I went through basic.
Understood, Martinjmpr. I was a youngster near Rucker during the post-Vietnam reductions.
Knew at least one guy personally who’d been through OCS, gotten RIFed, and reverted to enlisted status for his last 2-3 years in order to retire.
Our Guard unit had an excellent SFC retire a few years ago who had been a MAJ when he got out in the early 80s. He came back in in the late 90s as an E4. Great guy, tons of experience and patience, amazing sense of humor. I don’t think he ever fully grasped the concept of EO and would say the most amazing things, but I never saw anyone take anything wrong. He tried to mobilize to OEF again to bookend a career that started in Vietnam, but they wouldn’t let him because he was so close to mandatory retirement.
My first 1SG in the Cali NG was like that, former Major who got out and had too much time out when came back, so he returned as a SSG. I’ll never forget that guy, 1SG Oehman. That was back in ’99, so I’m sure he’s retired by now.
It wasn’t that. It’s hard to imagine how administratively they kept SFC Taffe as an E-7. They almost certainly had to find a slot for him, and it boggles my mind that that slot wasn’t already filled by someone who was already MOSQ’ed or that there weren’t people ready to go into that slot. He was previously EOD and if they had put him in an EOD slot, I might have understood, but according to one of the linked articles they made him an 88N instead. He would likely have retired as an E-7 in any event.
Damn good job Dad!
55 year old enlisted?
I didn’t even think that was possible.
IIRC the reg is written that the enlistment age limit is 35 but it goes up by 1 year for every qualifying year of service the enlistee has already completed. In my mind, that would mean that SFC Taffe already had 19 years in, he just needed to get that last year in order to make his 20 for retirement. If he’s RC (Reserve or NG) then he likely has a few “bad years” that don’t qualify for retirement but they probably do qualify for enlistment (in my case, for example, I served for 23 years and some change but for retirement purposes I have 22 because I had one “bad” year that didn’t qualify for retirement.)
My question would be why did he have to go through BCT at all? With all that prior service it would seem BCT is a bit of a waste of time, unless he did it just to see if he could.
I do think mandatory retirement is still 59 for enlisted. When I was in Kuwait in 2004 there was an E-8 who had enlisted during the early years of Vietnam – early enough that he had an Airborne tab over his 1st Cav Division patch. He was set to retire at the end of his tour there because he was turning 59 and 6 months (I think that was the mandatory retirement age.)
IIRC Gen McArthur was in the Army until he died but then again, having 5 stars on your collar earns certain privileges…
Retirement for reserves is at age 60 (with some exceptions for early retirement), but can be wavered up to 62.
I think the rule is that you have to be able to get to 20 years before your retirement age-one of the linked stories said he had 14 years of prior service.
Also, if you’re out for so many years (I think 10, but don’t quote me) you have to go back to BCT-SFC Taffe left service in 1991 according to one of the stories.
In every tour that I served except the last one in 2011 there was a Vietnam vet (or Vietnam era vet) there with us (sometimes several)
Last I had seen, for the Army a break of service of more than three years now requires going through BCT again. I think that only applies to prior service from other branches, though.
I actually had to go through a second time as well, at the age of 25, when I re-entered AD in 1986. What was frustrating to me, though, was that I had not been a “civilian” the previous 3 3 1/2 years, I had served in the CO National Guard.
However, at that time the Guard/Reserves were considered pretty much nothing by the active component – our schools didn’t count, our rank didn’t count, etc (I went from being a Sp/4 in the Guard to a PV2 on active duty.)
My understanding is that this has changed nowadays and soldiers going from the guard to to active can usually keep their rank or at most lose one grade going active.
I don’t remember his name, but in 1973, when I was at Camp Long in Won Ju, Republic of Korea, assigned as a Field Radio Relay and Carrier Equipment Repairman (MOS 31 L 20), we had a Staff Sergeant, E-6, who was viewed with respectful awe by his fellow NCOs because, at the age of FORTY (or more?) years old, successfully completed the Basic Airborne Course at Fort Benning, Georgia.
That unit was Headquarters and Service Company, 307th Signal Battalion, 8th United States Army.
That’s also where I learned to strum chords on a guitar, and I trained in Tae Kwon Do Oh Do Kwan.
Oh yeah, I actually DID break cement blocks and two by fours with my bare hands – – – just like in the Hollywood movies!
That’s odd – the only things I studied in Korea were the deadly arts of So Ju and Bi-mi-drink-kee. 😀
When I was a DI the two oldest recruits I had were 28 and 33 years old. The 28 year old was about 25 pounds overweight and threw his back out within a week.
The 33 year old, who was actually a pretty smart guy ended up graduating but getting put on med hold and getting discharged.
In 1970 – 1971, when I was at Camp Eagle in the old Republic of Viet Nam, my company commander was Captain William C. Wehunt, from Texas.
He told me that being a Captain was his reserve rank, and that his regular Army rank was Staff Sergeant.
That was Headquarters and Service Company, 501st Signal Battalion (Airmobile), 101st Airborne Division (Airmobile).
A few years ago, I attended the Army’s birthday party at the Pentagon, where they always have the youngest soldier present, and the oldest soldier present, both hold the sabre to slice the birthday cake.
I don’t remember his name, but that oldest active duty soldier was SEVENTY (70) years old!
He was a senior NCO, with gray hair, appearing physically very fit, dressed in camouflage, wearing jumpmaster wings, pathfinder badge, combat infantry badge, ranger tab, and special forces tab, basically every possible Army qualification and combat award that any soldier could ever earn.
I spoke with him for a few minutes, inviting him and his wife to come visit the guys at the Ol’ Soldiers’ Home.
This was a few years ago, and so I wonder if he is STILL serving on active duty?
I think I saw this guy a couple of years ago in Iraq. He was a private contractor running a PSD in Baghdad. He was talking about doing that for a few years and then maybe trying to get a waiver to join the Air Force.
I’m confused, the age cut off is 35 with 14 years prior service that would raise the age cut off to 49. How did he get in at 54?